MITTI COOL

AN INVENTION FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT

SUBMITTED BYNAVNEET KUMAR(10)

SHARARI SHANKAR(20)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
In performing our assignment, we had to take the help and guideline of some
respected persons, who deserve our greatest gratitude. The completion of this
assignment gives us much Pleasure. We would like to show our gratitude Ms.
Rajani Jain, National Institute Of fashion Technology for giving us a good
guideline for assignment throughout numerous consultations. We would also like
to expand our deepest gratitude to all those who have directly and indirectly
guided us in writing this assignment.

TOPICS
Topics

Page Number

INTRODUCTION

ABOUT THE FOUNDER

ENTERPRENUER STREAK

MITTI COOL STORY

MITTI COOL PRODUCTS

DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION

MITTI COOL NATURAL FRIDGE

KEY ADVANTAGES OF THE

PRODUCT
OTHER PRODUCTS FROM
MITTICOOL
ACHIEVEMENTS

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10

CONCLUSION

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REFERENCE

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MITTICOOL- Products from rural India for Rural India

INTRODUCTION
Mitticool is among Forbess list of seven most powerful rural Indian entrepreneurs, whose
inventions are changing lives of the people across the country. Mansukhbhai Prajapati the
sole owner of this organization Mitticool is being called APJ Abdul Kalam as True Scientist. The
patent winning Mitticool has been the most challenging product for him. It needed a lot of
experimenting. He started work on it in 2001, the product was finally ready by 2004.
In 1990, he got his unit company registered. And in 1995 he got a bulk export order for water
filters from Nairobi, Kenya. Finally, the Trade Mark Mitticool was registered in 2001 .
In 2005, developed entire range of earthen products for daily use in the kitchen. These
products include water filters, refrigerators, hot plates, cooker and other such items of daily
use.
Born in Nichimandal village of Morbi, Rajkot, Mansukhbhai was exposed to traditional clay
making since childhood. But, due to the precarious financial situation of the family, he had to
leave studies early and take up various odd jobs to support the family.

ABOUT THE FOUNDER

Born in the Prajapati family, Mansukhbhai had exposure to the clay tradition since childhood,
as this was his family's traditional profession. Being the only son and the eldest child, though
he helped his father in his work, he was more interested in cricket and other games. He used
to load clay from the ponds and fields on the donkey and ferry it to his place. Other than this,
his contribution was limited as he was not much interested in the pottery work. After the
breakdown of Machhu dam of Morbi in 1979, his family lost everything and they had to migrate
to Wankaner, where his father took the job of a mason to support the family. It was here that
his journey as a worker in a small rooftop tile manufacturing unit started, which today has
reached a point where he is recognized as a successful entrepreneur.

ENTERPRENUER STREAK
In 1988, he left his job and took a loan of Rs. 30,000 to start his own earthen plate
manufacturing factory. Mansukh bhai modified the roof tile making hand press and developed
a hand press machine having a capacity to produce 700 earthen pans per day. He sold one
pan for 0.65 paisa and within 2 days he could sell the entire 1st batch.

This continued for some time. However, he started getting negative feedback from customers
regarding the durability of the tavas (pans). He then experimentally varied the proportions of
clay to get a mix which was more heat resistant and durable.
Having gained a sound knowledge while working in the pottery unit, the desire to start an
enterprise of his own started to grow in Mansukhbhais mind. During his childhood, he saw
earthen pans/hot plates (locally termed as Kaladi/Tavdi) being manufactured manually on the
potters wheel (locally termed as Chhakdo). Using this, one person can only make about 100
units per day. He had seen roof tiles being manufactured in large quantity on hand press,
which made him think why cannot earthen pans be made the same way?
In 1988, he left his job and took a loan of Rs 30,000 from a money lender to start his own
earthen plate manufacturing factory. He purchased a small piece of land for the factory, dyes
and presses, soil mixing machine, electric potters wheel and other scrap objects. Then he
modified the roof tile making hand press and developed a hand press machine having capacity
to produce 700 earthen pans per day.

MITTICOOL STORY
In the fateful earthquake of January 2001, Mansukhbhai suffered huge loss, as most of his
stock got broken. He distributed the stock that escaped the quake to the quake affected people
of Kutch. In February 2001, Sandesh Gujarati Daily had a photo feature on the earthquake
where at one place it showed a broken water filter of Mansukhbhai with the caption the broken
fridge of poor.
This caption ignited a thought in him to work on a rural fridge that did not need electricity and
could be used by masses. Though he started thinking about it after the Gujarat earthquake of
2001, it was 2002 when he actually started his work. Almost the same time, Mansukhbhai
came into the contact of Gujarat Grass-roots Innovation Augmentation Network (GIAN),
Ahmedabad. After a painstaking journey of three years during which he tested all sorts of soils
and fridge designs, he finally came out with Mitticool fridge in 2005. A civil engineer saw the
fridge and looking at its applications gave him the order of 100 pieces and an advance of Rs. 2
lakh. This news was also covered by local dailies.
The devastating earthquake of 2001 destroyed thousands of homes in Gujarat, but the
destruction sparked an idea in the mind of Mansukhbhai Prajapati.
Prajapati had been making earthen water filters but a benign news caption about his broken
water filter wrought a change in perspective.

In February 2001, a Gujarati newspaper carried a photo feature on the earthquake. Among the
photographs was one of a broken water filter produced by him, with the caption: the broken
fridge of poor.
This got him thinking and he actually started working on a refrigerator that would keep food
cool without needing electricity.
After a painstaking three years during which he tested all sorts of soil, clay and refrigerator
designs, Prajapati finally came out with his unique "Mitticool" fridge in 2005.
Mitticool is made of a specific type of terracotta clay with numerous pores on its walls. Its
function is simple: keep things cool, for which it uses the basic principles of physics.
About 10 litres of water travel through it, circulating through the pores and eventually
evaporating. The evaporation lowers the temperature of the clay, and keeps things stored in
the frig fresh.Mitticool can keep the food fresh for five days. The Rs 3,400 desi gadget is
affordable for the masses, and a hit in the region.
Impressed by Prajapatis efforts, Anil Gupta, a professor at IIM Ahmedabad introduced Mitticool
to National Innovation Foundation in 2005.
He also helped Prajapati with the much needed cash to expand his business further. "I
received Rs 1.8 lakh due to professor Guptas efforts that gave me financial security and
boosted my confidence," the innovator says.
Today Prajapati makes several clay products that include a tawa, pressure cooker, non-stick
tawa, water filter, pot and dinner set, among other items.

MITTICOOL PRODUCTS

Mitti Cool Refrigerator

Non Stick Coated Earthen Tawa
Clay Cooker
Clay Food Plate
Clay Water Filter
Clay Pot

DEVELOPMENT AND INNOVATION

Mansukh Bhai has sold over 3500 refrigerators so far. In the last five years, the only major
complaint he says he had was that the magnet on the fridge door gave way. He has orders
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from all over the world and was presented an award by the President of India. He has received
an ISO cerification and his Tavas have been approved as having a food grade quality coating.
His future plans include starting a factory with the aid of IIM and NID Ahmedabad and making
a MittiCool house. Indian By Design looks forward to it.

MITTICOOL NATURAL FRIDGE

The principle of cooling used in this simple machine is the same as that of earthen pots. It
does not require electricity or any artificial energy and therefore has no recurring costs. The
refrigerator preserves the original taste of fruits and vegetables.
During testing, the shelf life of coriander was extended by 4 days as against 1.5-2 days in
room temperature. Shelf life of vegetables like brinjal, chilly & okra was increased on an
average by 5-6 days vis--vis room temperature.
GIAN facilitated design improvements in the fridge through National Institute of Design (NID),
Ahmedabad. Mitticool refrigerator has been featured at a conference organized by the Centre
for India and Global Business, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, UK in May
2009. Bosch and Siemens Hausgerte (BSH), Germany, one of the worlds largest home
appliance companies, have also written to GIAN and showed interest in the product.
His company, christened (what else?) Mitticool recorded annual sales of Rs 45 lakh during the
fiscal 2012-13. "We have been growing at 15-20% every year," he said, adding that 230
Mitticool refrigerators are sold every month.
Mansukhbhais wife once asked him to bring a non-stick tava from the market. At that time, in
2003, he found out that a non-stick tava costed Rs. 200. Manusukh bhai did some more
market research and found out that apart from being costly, Teflon coated non-stick tavas do
not retain the natural taste of food . Also, the coating tends to wear off quite soon.

So, he reached Mumbai to learn the process of non-stick coating on pans and to find an
appropriate coating material for his earthen tavas. After about a year of research and making
one lakh trial tavas, he finally succeeded in developing the non-stick coating for earthen pans
using Azo Noble.

Capacity About 20 liters of water, 5 kg of vegetables, fruits and 5 liters of milk or any liquid
material
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Dimensions (inches) 18.5x 11x11

Weight 20 kgs

KEY ADVANTAGES OF MITTICOOL FRIDGE

Provides a cheap and eco-friendly option to store drinking water, food, vegetables and
milk

Does not require any electricity and therefore no recurring costs

Preserves the original taste of the fruits and vegetables, which can be stored fresh
without deteriorating the quality for 2-3 days.

Very good alternative for the rural people who cannot afford the conventional
refrigerator

Quite affordable at Rs. 3440/- (Ex-factory price + packaging) and takes about a weeks
time to deliver

It takes 7 days to make one MittiCool Fridge and he offers very precise instructions on
its maintenance. At Rs 2500 (P&P extra), its extremely affordable and since it doesnt
use electricity, rural areas can benefit immensely from it.
FUTURE SCOPE OF THE PRODUCT

Mitticool is an ingenious innovation for the bottom of the pyramid market where, electronic
devices have slowly started to penetrate the market. Implementing green ideas at the rural
level is equally important as it is imperative for us to reduce our carbon footprint at all strata. In
addition to the Mitticool fridge, Mansukhlal Prajapati also sells a variety of other clay-made
products that are affordable to the poor. Apart from selling over 3,500 refrigerators so far, he
sells around 50 refrigerators, 500 clay water filters, 500 pressure cookers, and 1,000 frying
pans a month.
Over the last five years, the only major complaint he says he had was that the magnet on the
fridge door gave way. He has orders from all over the world and has been a recipient of many
awards. He has received ISO certification and his frying pans have been approved as having a
food grade quality coating. His future plans include starting a factory with the aid of the
National Innovation Foundation at IIM Ahmedabad and making a MittiCool house.

OTHER MITTI COOL- Nonstick Tava

Another star product of mitti cool is a non stick earthen pot.Mansukh bhais non-stick earthen
tava uses less oil than a normal pan and preserves the natural flavor of food. It is much
cheaper than non-stick tavas and consumes less LPG as well. As the coating gets absorbed
by the pores of the earthen material, it does not wear that easily.
The non-stick coating has been tested at the Institute of Chemical Technology, University of
Mumbai. For this product, Mansukhbhai was also supported under the Micro Venture
Innovation Fund (MVIF) of NIF- India.
GIAN also helped him to set up a company, Clay Creations, in 2008 and assisted him in
developing the online retail portal.

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ACHIEVEMENTS
Sold about 1,00,000 tawa, 5000 mitticool & 500 cookers. Covered by Discovery channel
Mitticool was showcased at a conference organised by the Centre for India and Global
Business, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, UK in May 2009. Bosch and
Siemens Hausger te (BSH), Germany, has also showed interest in Mitticool. Many units of
Mitticool have been exported to the UK, Africa and Nairobi.
CONCLUSION
In December 1983, Mansukhbhai Prajapati was living off a measly Rs 300 a month, working at
a tile manufacturing unit at a small town, Wankaner, near Rajkot, Gujarat. Today, the 47-yearold is hailed as one of rural India's most successful entrepreneurs and was even featured in
Forbes' Top 7 Rural Entrepreneurs list in August 2010. He also has several national awards to
his credit, and his company, Mitti Cool Clay Creations, has won recognition across the globe.
Prajapati is keen to improve upon his products and is working to improve the Mitticool by fitting
an RO (Reverse Osmosis) unit to it so that one can also get purified water.
He is also researching on making small Minute Mitticools such as a 5-minute Mitticool or a 2minute Mitticool, essentially meaning that the device would cool water in the time specified.

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REFERENCE

http://www.mitticool.in/
http://west.gian.org/case_studies/case-study-on-mitticool.pdf
http://permaculturenews.org/2013/01/15/mitticool-clay-refrigerator/
http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/the-mitticool-revolution-fridge-for-the-poor-459588

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